


Dummy's Shrine

by rebelmeg



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Bot fic, F/M, Tony Stark Makes The Best Things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-19
Updated: 2016-06-19
Packaged: 2018-07-16 02:27:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7248409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rebelmeg/pseuds/rebelmeg
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Over the years, Dummy has picked up some pretty human behaviors, such as protectiveness towards Tony and fondness towards other people and bots.  He's also picked up some interesting quirks, and once he understands the relationship between Pepper and Tony, he takes it upon himself to express his bot-ly happiness.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dummy's Shrine

**Author's Note:**

> More of Dummy because I love him, and his family loves him too.

Tony was vaguely aware of Pepper coming into his workshop, and he smiled absentmindedly as she said something he didn’t really hear. She’d really get his attention if she had been talking to him. He let himself delve further into the project he was working on, and some time later, he realized she was talking to him.

“Tony, what’s this?”

His head came up from the detailed display he’d been looking at, and he had to look around for a minute before he located Pepper off to his right, looking at the door of the fridge.

“What?”

“Where did all these pictures of us come from?”

Didn’t that say a lot about how aware he was of his surroundings when he had no idea what she was talking about…

Making a quick note on the display to help him remember his train of thought, he got up from his chair and went over to Pepper, stretching his arms up over his head.

“What are you talking about?”

Pulling one of the pictures off the fridge, that were apparently stuck to the stainless steel surface with blue sticky tack, Pepper held it out to Tony. “We are both asleep in this picture. Who took it, who has been down here? Jarvis?”

Tony had been about to ask the AI the same thing, but since Pepper obviously had it handled, he looked at the picture she handed him, smiling a little. In it, they were both asleep on the couch he kept in the workshop for her, stretched out with Tony behind Pepper, curling both arms around her and with one hand tangled in her light red hair.

“I’m afraid Dummy is responsible for those pictures, Miss Potts. He found a digital camera on the work bench several weeks ago and figured out how it was used by observation. He has been taking pictures of everything, but did not stop pestering me about it until I printed off the pictures of yourself and Sir, and proceeded to put them all up on the fridge. I informed Sir about it.”

Tony had no memory of this, but he didn’t doubt that it happened. There were entire days he didn’t remember when he was working on projects, and 1998 was pretty much gone entirely from his memory. He glanced at Pepper, interested in her reaction, and wasn’t surprised to see a mix of exasperation and “awww” on her face. His lips quirked up in a grin as he looked over the other photos.

“Jarvis, what brought this on?”

“I believe he saw you put up the photograph from the paper up there, sir. He has inserted it into his protocol to do so with the pictures he takes of the two of you.”

“Dummy,” Tony looked over at the charging station and called out his bot’s name, watching as the claw came up and the camera focused on him. “Come over here.”

Dummy rolled over, and upon seeing the photo in Tony’s hand, proceeded to try and take it from him.

“Hey, whoa, chill out, I’m not taking the pictures. They’re staying here. Why are you putting all of the pictures here, Dummy? Why are you taking pictures of me and Pepper?”

The bot moved his claw around to look between Tony, the fridge, and Pepper, then back at the photo on Tony’s hand.

“From what I understand, sir… Dummy is taking pictures of you because you are happy. And putting them on the fridge is his way of saying he’s happy too.”

Pepper made that soft sound that meant she was about to cry. “Oh, Dummy.”

The bot apparently knew she was some kind of upset, and he wheeled over and bumped his arm up against her leg, waiting for her to put her hand on him and pet him. A lump of metal and rotors and gears, and the thing still liked being petted like a dog.

“My bot is making a Pepperony shrine on the fridge. That is… unbelievable.” Tony murmured, and he carefully put the picture of them napping back on the fridge where it had been, knowing Dummy would fix it unless he did it right.

“Dummy, you are the sweetest thing in the world. I love you.” Pepper’s voice was soft and affectionate as she stroked her hand over his metal frame.

With a happy chirp, Dummy bumped into her leg again, then tugged on the leg of Tony’s pants before rolling away. Pepper sniffled a little and went easily into Tony’s embrace when he tucked an arm around her shoulders, resting her head on his chest.

“You make the best things.” She whispered.

Smiling as he kissed the top of her head, Tony nodded. “I know. And that one in particular was made on four days of no sleep, teenage angst, and stale coffee. No wonder he’s a little… different.”

Pepper chuckled a little, wrapping her arms around Tony’s waist, and a second later when Dummy rolled up to them again, this time with camera in claw, they both smiled for their picture and watched as Dummy waited for Jarvis to put it through the printer then stuck it proudly with the others.

\-------------------------

Tony was elbows deep into the torso of his Iron Man suit trying to fix a short when he heard the keypad on the door beep, allowing someone entry. Since he wasn’t completely absorbed yet, he looked over and smiled at Pepper as she came in.

“Hey,” He noted that she had fresh coffee, which earned her a beaming grin, then also noticed something in her other hand. “Whatcha got there?”

“Besides the very fuel that keeps you going?” She saluted him with the coffee and set the mug down on the work table closest to him. “Something for the fridge.”

Craning his head around in interest, Tony watched as Pepper went over to the fridge (also known as the Site of the Pepperony Shrine, as he’d taken to calling it), and pressed a new picture to it. For a second, he couldn’t make it out, but then he recognized the shape of a claw and grinned.

Dummy, who had perked up and gone rolling over to Pepper the moment she’d approached his carefully constructed shrine, beeped in concern and maneuvered his camera around until he could see the picture clearly.

“It’s a picture of you, Dummy.” Tony called out before turning his attention back to his suit.

Pepper smiled down at the robot and patted his metal arm. “Because we love you and like it when you’re happy, too.”

Dummy seemed confused for a minute, making little beeps and chirps, but Jarvis translated the idea into code he could understand, and the robot squeaked with delight, patting the picture of himself delicately.

“I hoped you’d like it.” Pepper grinned, then went over to kiss Tony’s cheek before she went back upstairs. “Don’t forget movie night tonight, Tony. You invited them, you have to show up.”

“Yeah, just fax it to me.” Tony called back absentmindedly, his mind nowhere near the conversation, fumbling for his soldering iron. 

When Dummy handed him a mug of hot coffee, he didn’t question the bot’s decision.


End file.
